Jobs to renting homes, bill set to give HIV+ patients more rights

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved jail term of up to two years for discriminating against HIV-positive people, making sweeping changes to a proposed

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved jail term of up to two years for discriminating against HIV-positive people, making sweeping changes to a proposed law that aims to safeguard an estimated 21 lakh population living with the health condition.

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Besides jail term, violators could also be fined up to Rs1 lakh under amendments to the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill 2014, health minister JP Nadda said.

The changes will protect HIV-positive people from discrimination at workplace and educational institutions, Nada said, adding that insurance companies cannot deny them protection owing to their health condition. India has an estimated 21 lakh people with HIV/AIDS, the third highest in the world after South Africa and Nigeria.

Afflicted by unprotected sexual contact and use of infected intravenous needles, especially by drug addicts, HIV/AIDS patients face constant discrimination in India due to the social stigma attached to the disease.

Introduced in Parliament more than two years ago by the previous UPA government, the NDA government has pulled the bill out of cold storage and plans to reintroduce it with significant changes. The original bill aimed to make antiretroviral treatment a legal right of HIV/AIDS patients.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) consists of a combination of drugs to suppress the HIV virus and stop progression of the disease.

“It’s their (HIV-positive people) right not to reveal their HIV/AIDS status and if they do, no company can deny them insurance on the basis of their declaration ,” N add a said. Apart from addressing HIV related discrimination, the bill seeks to strengthen the existing programme by bringing in legal accountability and establish formal mechanisms for inquiring into complaints and redressing grievances.

The health minister said the bill mandates that the health condition of individuals can be made public only with their consent or by a court’s order, if required.

Privacy concerns of HIV-positive persons have also been addressed. No one can publish information or advocate feelings of hatred against HIV-positive persons and those living with them.

A government-controlled health programme has been successful in cutting the number of new infections by half over the past decade. The proposed law are expected to provide essential support to the National AIDS Control programme in arresting new infections and help achieve the target of ending the epidemic by 2030.